Buckingham Bingo Bradford welcomes MP

MP meets Buckingham Bingo Bradford players

Philip Davies MP visits Buckingham and backs bingo

Buckingham Bingo Bradford welcomed a very special guest this week.

Philip Davies MP, a member of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee, was given a tour of the popular bingo club by manager Robert Cahill on the evening of Thursday, September 3 2009.

As representative for Shipley, Mr Davies encountered many residents from his home constituency, including 102-year-old bingo fan Anne Webster, who filled him in on the history of Buckingham Bingo Bradford.

The Conservative MP also met Buckingham Bingo chief executive officer Andy Cunningham to discuss the key issues facing the industry.

Bingo tax under the microscope

Among the topics discussed, Mr Cunningham highlighted the likely impact of government plans to raise gross profit tax on bingo clubs to 22 per cent.

The hike in duty was unexpectedly announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in his budget on April 22 2009.

And Mr Cunningham's arguments that the bingo club tax was unfair and that bingo was a softer form of gambling than bookmakers and casinos were met with agreement from the MP.

Dashing the hopes of many a bingo fan, Mr Davies chose not to call out numbers for the 500 players in the bingo club that night.

But he revealed he would bring his wife down to Buckingham Bingo Bradford for some bingo action in the future.

Perhaps Mr Davies and his wife will have as much luck in Bradford as a certain Buckingham Bingo Preston member.

One lucky gamer won a Bank Holiday Special round of the Bullseye Link game on Monday, August 31st and scooped �10,000 � ten times the normal amount.

Buckingham Bingo Bradford welcomes MP

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